Paul‐Henri Mathieu was one of Rafael Nadal’s many Grand Slam victims.
And the Frenchman remembers very well a particularly embarrassing moment he experienced against the Spaniard during their clash at the 2008 Australian Open. That day, the Frenchman was trailing 6–4, 3 –0, then gave up… for a very specific reason that deserved to be told!
“I tried to intimidate him in the locker room, because I had played him several times and he impressed me a lot during his warm-up. So I said to myself, ‘I’m going to do the same kind of warm-up as him. I had warmed up a little violently in front of him, warming him up a little in the locker room. And during the first point of the match, on the first serve, I tore my calf! So it’s a bad memory because it was in the night session, it was a match that I had been waiting for since the start of the tournament. I managed to hold a set and then unfortunately I came out under the whistles”declared the former 12th player, invited by Eurosport.
Published on Wednesday January 24, 2024 at 4:55 p.m.
2024-01-24 15:58:56
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